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At the age of 30, Shani is a lead investor in ClimaTech. But for her, the story starts way back, at the age of 15, when her parents told her to pack everything because they're moving from Israel to Texas. 

As a teenager who got the news, she shared, you can only imagine the drama that occurred during that time for her, but in the end, it was one of the best experiences she had in her life. She graduated high school there early, and went to study at TCU (Texas Cristian University), when her family decided to return back to Israel. 

She had to make a difficult choice - should she stay there alone until graduation, or should she return back home with her family?

“It was an epic moment in my life - not because of the decision, but because it was the first time in my life that I remember feeling intuition. I felt it in my gut, this confidence that I didn’t know where it came from - and this voice inside of me said - you can always come back, just try this.”

And indeed, she stayed, and shared that this experience taught her how to trust herself - being there, visioning, visualizing so vividly how she’s getting her Diploma, and then making it come true, it built something in her that served her in the future.

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It was a very joyful time in her life, but it came with a price -

“It was the first time I realized what is ‘home-sick’. I was literally sick, physically ill from missing my parents.”

This is a thing that I (Gali) know about, but still never ceases to amaze me - how deeply our minds affect our bodies and vice versa. This connection is a powerful way for our minds to speak to us through our bodies, when something is right or wrong, and when something needs to be balanced in our life.

So after graduating, Shani decided to come back to Israel and do her military service, at the age of 21. She served in the foreign affairs unit, and realized how much she’s passionate about the thing she missed the most - Israel.

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Relocating for the second time

One day her unit got an email from the Israeli embassy in the Netherlands, which said they were looking for someone from the IDF to work there with them. 

Listening to her instinct again, she sent her CV and got in, and for the second time, she packed everything and relocated, this time to the Netherlands.

Professionally, it was an amazing experience for her - she loved her job and all the responsibility that was included within her role. But personally, she shared that it was really difficult -

“I was not only the youngest, but I was also the only woman there for most of the time, and I was there alone.”

The same feeling from her past creeped back in, but the force that pushed her to take this role and develop her career was stronger -

“I chose this. I knew I would benefit from it and that I learn a lot from being there, and as long as I learn something, I can still stay - but I knew there was something I was sacrificing, I was aware of it.”

She stayed there for almost two years, until one cold dark night where she just knew she had to come back, and booked a one way ticket to Israel. 

Being attuned to ourselves is the key for managing these different aspects within ourselves, the different needs of ours that can be opposite to one another, and needs to constantly be balanced.

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Finding her true passion

“I know that the world, the universe, whatever you want to call it, has my back. Some decisions are going to be made for you, and sometimes it can be super painful, and sometimes it happens for you. Being resilient is in how much you're attuned to it - to allow myself to feel the pain or whatever it is that I’m feeling, but know that in the long run or even the short run there’s a bigger plan that is meant for me, and I need to go along with it.”

And here the two parts of her beliefs come together, because if she’s trusting herself, she’s also trusting the universe. But for this to happen for us, we need to learn to let go, which is a very difficult thing to do.

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In Israel, she worked in the British Consul - first as a project manager, and after that as a team manager. Shani shared that the biggest takeaway from her job was the insight that she's most passionate about science and innovation, this is what excites her.

After that, she managed an innovation center, which wasn’t the right fit,

“but something magical happened - I was blown away by interacting with founders of companies on a daily basis and seeing the fire in their eyes - I thought, these are my people. I want that energy in my life.”  

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She struggled to find a place and a role that she could fit into, and when she couldn’t find it - she founded her own company -

“I learned from doing and working so much, it wasn’t theoretical. This is who I am as a person, I like to be thrown into things, and learn from everyone around me.”

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When I asked her about what made her choose the ClimaTech arena, she answered with a smile and sparkling eyes -

“Something that is moving me is being a part of something so big that I cannot even see it sometimes, like the climate change crisis. Add the layer of new opportunities in this arena these days, and together there’s no better time than now.”